US politics - sometimes political jokes get elected

[Fragile Bird]

I had the tv on, and I had to shut it off. I’ll get the highlights later.

eta no, not shit it off!

[SpaceChampion]

Here we go:  https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/4/21122737/iowa-democractic-caucus-voting-app-android-testfairy-screenshots-app-store

The app was deployed with free version of the beta testing platform TestFlight for iOS and and TestFairy for Android, both which limit the number of users and is not meant for live apps. 

[Gertrude]

28 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

I had the tv on, and I had to shit it off. I’ll get the highlights later.

Sounds painful, but accurate considering the content.

[Centrist Simon Steele]

1 hour ago, Mudguard said:

I don't get why people think Buttigieg did anything wrong by declaring victory before the official numbers came out.  By all indications, Buttigieg had one of the largest and most organized ground operations in Iowa (along with Warrren), which meant that he very likely had at least one person attending most of the caucus sites, which means that he knew the results of most of the caucus sites on Monday night.  Unlike the Iowa democratic party, his team is able to handle basic arithmetic, so he could have easily calculated the vote totals and delegate totals for the majority of the sites.  If anything, assuming the numbers hold for Buttigieg, he was robbed of being officially named the winner of Iowa on Monday night.

 

I was listening to the Johns (dans? Dave's?) on pod save America, and they said he probably took a page from a Clinton campaign op Ed that said to take advantage if there was confusion. They make a good point it isn't probably so nefarious.

[GrimTuesday]

Trump is going hard for the Black vote tonight. I'm getting a pit in my stomach about this election.

[Kalbear]

5 minutes ago, GrimTuesday said:

Trump is going hard for the Black vote tonight. I'm getting a pit in my stomach about this election.

Nah. What hes going for is the suburban woman who wants to feel like trump is doing well for minorities. 

[Lany Freelove Cassandra]

When horrible people get "the highest civilian honor" it then means nothing!

[Lollygag]

Trump had the Superbowl ad and now this SotU focus on minorities. He just did the tree thing for climate change. He'll make moves on health care.

When Democrats say he's racist, against climate change, against health care, the disengaged voters who haven't been paying attention will point to these and say that he's not and Democrats are just hysterical and lying. He's counting on people who haven't paid attention seeing Trump as the moderate and missing all of the reasons that Democrats are right. And Democrats won't point out what the disengaged are missing because they're bad at messaging. Why there isn't a nation-wide ad bomb (hullooooo Bloomberg!) of what they're trying to do to pre-existing conditions in the SC is absolutely beyond me.

And it's not just about the Democrats proving themselves right in the face of Trump's tokens, it's about taking away excuses and rationalizations for wanting to otherwise vote for Trump/vote against the Dem nominee. As long as the economy is good, people will look for excuses to vote for him.

--------------------

On Trump's approval rating rising, I'd love to see numbers showing the track of his approval rating against Bernie's rise as the possible nominee and the candidate with the most inertia. For those who don't like Trump but still lean rightish or at least strongly anti-socialist, the increasing view of Bernie as the anointed nominee might make Trump look better to them in comparison. Sorta like how people look better at 2:00am when you're drunk. Maybe a lot of it is about the surroundings.

 

[GrimTuesday]

75% of this speech is just emotional manipulation. These people are being used as political props. It is extremely effective if you aren't engaged, like Lollygag said above,

[DMC]

23 minutes ago, GrimTuesday said:

It is extremely effective if you aren't engaged

If you aren't engaged, you aren't watching the State of the Union.  Jumping off point to say Trump's gonna get a bump this week, sure.  Will it last?  History suggests not likely.  History also suggests he'll do something soon to fuck it up.

[Martell Spy]

Iowa Caucus Voter Demands Ballot For Pete Buttigieg Be Returned After Learning He’s Gay
Footage of a tense exchange between a woman and a caucus precinct captain has been viewed more than a million times as of Tuesday afternoon.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/iowa-caucus-voter-pete-buttigieg-same-sex-marriage_n_5e39d27fc5b6f083412065c5

Quote

 

A caucus precinct captain for Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg remained calm and astute after being confronted with a disgruntled Iowan voter who learned she’d just supported an openly gay man. 

Video footage showing the tense exchange was posted to Twitter early Tuesday, where it had been viewed more than a million times by afternoon. In it, an unidentified woman demands a signed ballot back from captain Nikki van den Heever after she learns that Buttigieg is in a same-sex marriage. 

“Are you saying that he has the same-sex partner? Are you kidding?” the voter asks, before adding, “I don’t want anybody like that in the White House.” 

Though van den Heever explains Buttigieg’s sexuality is “common knowledge,” the voter ― who is wearing buttons in support of Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar ― remains unconvinced. 

“He’d better read the Bible,” the voter proclaims, noting that her support for the candidate “all just went down the toilet.” 

 

 

[polishgenius]

5 hours ago, Mudguard said:

I don't get why people think Buttigieg did anything wrong by declaring victory before the official numbers came out.  By all indications, Buttigieg had one of the largest and most organized ground operations in Iowa (along with Warrren), which meant that he very likely had at least one person attending most of the caucus sites, which means that he knew the results of most of the caucus sites on Monday night.  Unlike the Iowa democratic party, his team is able to handle basic arithmetic, so he could have easily calculated the vote totals and delegate totals for the majority of the sites.  If anything, assuming the numbers hold for Buttigieg, he was robbed of being officially named the winner of Iowa on Monday night.

I think if that had been the extent of his involvement in the mess people would have rolled their eyes and not been that bothered in the long run, but that combined with his association with the company making the app that caused the confusion all just combines to fuel the perception that he's a dishonest, manipulate-the-people type, especially for those who were already thinking he's an empty suit.

eta: especially since he could have done everything you say without outright declaring himself the official winner and come off looking much better. Just said something along the lines of 'well officially we don't know but we were keeping tabs and this is what we have'.

[Rippounet]

4 hours ago, SpaceChampion said:

Here we go:  https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/4/21122737/iowa-democractic-caucus-voting-app-android-testfairy-screenshots-app-store

The app was deployed with free version of the beta testing platform TestFlight for iOS and and TestFairy for Android, both which limit the number of users and is not meant for live apps. 

Sounds like a Silicon Valley episode.

[Impmk2]

14 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

I think if that had been the extent of his involvement in the mess people would have rolled their eyes and not been that bothered in the long run, but that combined with his association with the company making the app that caused the confusion all just combines to fuel the perception that he's a dishonest, manipulate-the-people type, especially for those who were already thinking he's an empty suit.

I get the perception. But looking into it the association is that:

a) one of his staffers is married to someone who works there.

and

b) His campaign bought $42k of software from them.

A candidate buying a subscription to software specifically designed for Democratic party campaigns is hardly surprising. It's worth noting that this is a company which was setup to work on the Clinton campaign, and Biden and Gillibrand's campaign also bought software from them. And as DMC said - that someone who works at a (apparently terrible) developer which was specifically set up to support the Democratic party, has a spouse who is Democratic candidate's staffer doesn't seem particularly surprising either. So seems like a big lot of conspiracy theory nothing?

[ThinkerX]

28 minutes ago, Impmk2 said:

I get the perception. But looking into it the association is that:

a) one of his staffers is married to someone who works there.

and

b) His campaign bought $42k of software from them.

A candidate buying a subscription to software specifically designed for Democratic party campaigns is hardly surprising. It's worth noting that this is a company which was setup to work on the Clinton campaign, and Biden and Gillibrand's campaign also bought software from them. And as DMC said - that someone who works at a (apparently terrible) developer which was specifically set up to support the Democratic party, has a spouse who is Democratic candidate's staffer doesn't seem particularly surprising either. So seems like a big lot of conspiracy theory nothing?

Diebold.

[Darryk]

Dunno why anything Trump does surprises me anymore but giving Limbaugh a medal of freedom at the SOTU seems like a new low somehow. Like he's really turned the presidency into a vanity show and isn't even pretending anymore.

 

[Guest]

6 hours ago, Impmk2 said:

I get the perception. But looking into it the association is that:

a) one of his staffers is married to someone who works there.

and

b) His campaign bought $42k of software from them.

A candidate buying a subscription to software specifically designed for Democratic party campaigns is hardly surprising. It's worth noting that this is a company which was setup to work on the Clinton campaign, and Biden and Gillibrand's campaign also bought software from them. And as DMC said - that someone who works at a (apparently terrible) developer which was specifically set up to support the Democratic party, has a spouse who is Democratic candidate's staffer doesn't seem particularly surprising either. So seems like a big lot of conspiracy theory nothing?

The conspiracy stuff is stupid. However, what this incident does illustrate is that the Democratic party is still beholden to a lot of cronyism, trading actual competence for access and influence.

To me, the whole thing is a pretty damning indictment that Democrats didn't learn one fucking lesson from 2016, and instead of spending the last 3 years preparing to beat Trump, they spent it dicking around.

[Guest]

6 hours ago, Triskele said:

So while we don't know the final tally it seems clear that Biden was at best 4th and not that far from being 5th to Klobuchar.  That's a horrible result for him, is it not?

And whether Pete ends up 1 or 2 does he not also represent someone who might pick off some Biden support at least in the moderate lane sense?

It's a terrible result for Biden, especially since he was polling well there fairly recently. However, I don't believe Biden's support will collapse. He still has the money to stay in the game, endorsements, etc. 

And I also don't think Buttigieg will pick up a lot of Biden voters. The issue for Biden, I think, is that voters backing other moderates like Klobuchar will most likely consolidate behind Buttigieg now, when they most likely would have done so with Biden had he even come in first among the moderates without having to win the state outright.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

What was the point of Speaker Pelosi tearing up Trump's speech?  The only people who are going to get a kick out of that are already deep in her corner.  Those who are Trumpanistas are going insane over it.  Why throw them red meat?

[mormont]

12 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

What was the point of Speaker Pelosi tearing up Trump's speech?  The only people who are going to get a kick out of that are already deep in her corner.  Those are Trumpanista's are going insane over it.  Why throw them red meat?

Grade A bit of trolling if you ask me. And a great distraction.